After the massacre: Binghamton carnage cries out for tighter state gun laws

After the massacre at Columbine, laws were tightened to better regulate weapons sales at gun shows.

After the massacre at Virginia Tech, laws were tightened to create a system for checking mental health records of gun buyers.

After the massacre by the Washington sniper, laws were tightened to clamp down on lost and stolen guns.

Now, there has been a fresh massacre - this one methodically taking 13 lives in upstate Binghamton.

In New York, where the gun laws are said to be among the toughest in the nation.

In New York, where the gun laws need to be tightened to enact uniform, strict statewide standards on pistol licensing.

Gov. Paterson and the Legislature must pattern state rules after those applied here in the city. Key among the provisions must be an end to the insane practice of issuing permits that have no expiration date.

There are, broadly speaking, two types of pistol licenses - one that authorizes someone to carry a concealed weapon for protection, another that enables someone to keep a weapon at home for defense or to bring, unloaded, to specified locations, such as a target range.

Applicants for so-called carry permits must demonstrate a need: For example, the regular transportation of large sums of money. So-called premises permits are easier to obtain. They generally require only a background check.

Demented Binghamton shooter Jiverly Wong had a duly issued Broome County premises permit that entitled him - despite behaving erratically at the store - to buy the two Berettas used in the shooting spree.

But, lacking an expiration date, the permit was more than a dozen years old. Only New York City and suburban counties put a time limit on premises licenses. In the city, it's three years. In the suburbs, it's five.

Much had changed for Wong since he got his permit in 1996. He was fired at least once from a job, was arrested for bad checks and was reported to police by an informant as plotting a robbery and using crack.

The NYPD permit form requires applicants to disclose, among other things, job dismissals, narcotics use and arrests. The department runs its own independent checks on such things - and does so every time permit holders apply for renewal.

Had such a three-year system been in place in Broome County, Wong might have come to the attention of police as too risky for gun ownership. No one will ever know, because in Broome and 53 other New York counties, premises permits are good forever. The authorities never get another look at a gun owner's rap sheet or history of domestic violence. Until it's too late. That must change.